Internet Time setup for Windows 2003 SBS

I am in the process of moving SBS to a new hardware platform.

I wanted to setup the time service to find a reliable internet time server. This had been configured on the old server but it was hard for me to recall how this was done. Searching the Windows 2003 Server website revealed the following article How to configure an authoritative time server in Windows Server 2003. I started through the procedure in the section “Configuring the Windows Time service to use an external time source” until I reached step 4.

“4 b. In the right pane, right-click NtpServer, and then click Modify.”

The registry key called for in Step 4, “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Services W32Time Parameters” did not have a data set in the right pane to modify called NtpServer, believing that the instruction were correct I added the REG_SZ data set including the time server DNS name appending it with “,0x1” as per the instructions.

Once I completed the instructions, I stopped and started w32tme service and figured that would take care of keeping the server time up to date.

It didn’t.

Afterwards I started seeing w32time service errors in my system log file and started investigating the problem.

I realized the error. The default SBS NTP packet filter in ISA only allowed outgoing TCP requests on port 123. We need UDP send receive to remote port 123 in order for time synchronization to take place. Once I corrected the problem by adding the UDP packet filter, w32time service grabbed the data from the internet time source and was synced.

Now, happily, my Windows SBS 2003 Server is synced to a reliable time source. Since the server is a domain controller all the XP workstations will sync their time against the SBS box and everyone will be happy.

A word of caution, if you break the registry during edits it could bring disaster. Make sure to backup the registry before you modify it. A system state backup should do the trick.

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This web log is operated by myself, Stevereno. I work in a computer support role for a Fortune 500 investment and financial services company. The opinion and views expressed here are my own and do not reflect the views and opinions of anyone other than myself. No warranties or other guarantees are offered in regard to the quality of the opinions offered here....